Ignoring
by Danym
Summary: When Sara’s not feeling good at a crime scene, chaos follows. [GSR hints]


Ignoring

By Dany

Summary: When Sara's not feeling good at a crime scene, chaos follows.

Rating: K+

A/N: This is a response to an element challenge issued by Frederica at YTDaW. The elements are:  
Grissom asking Sara at least three times if she's okay  
A positive pregnancy test on Ecklie's desk (and no evidence bag around it!)  
A CSI with appendicitis (Ouch!)  
The words "I never knew you had that side to you!" by Sara (to anyone)  
A pissed Catherine  
Greg's 'special' coffee  
Any word limit

Disclaimer: I don not own CSI!

xxxxx

"Sara, are you okay?"

Sara Sidle was bent over, feeling sick in her stomach, but they were at a crime scene and she would not give in. She would not vomit and she would not give Grissom the satisfaction of admitting that there was something wrong.

He was standing a few feet behind her, looking worried.

Sara pretended to be engrossed in something on the ground and ignored him, hoping he would go away. Silence seemed to work for ignoring other people. She had been feeling unwell ever since she got up, but something small like that would not keep her away from work. She was perfectly capable of doing her job and she was going to prove that to Grissom.

When she didn't hear anything for a few seconds, she took the chance to bring her hand up to her stomach and slide it carefully over it. A stab of pain shot through her, and she groaned.

In her careful concentration on her own body, she hadn't heard Grissom inching closer, but she jumped when he was close enough for her to feel his body.

"Sara, are you really okay?"

She was about to straighten up and tell him to go to hell because he only cared for his precious crime scene and was not really interested in her well-being when another wave of pain swept over her, making her lose her footing. She slipped and was about to fall over backwards, when she felt strong hands grip her waist.

More pain, and she groaned again.

"That's it," Grissom stated firmly, her body feeling hot to his touch. "Either I drive you to a doctor or I'll call an ambulance. Your choice."

He made it clear that she had no other option, but at this point she didn't think she could fight him. The pain got steadily worse. "Damn it."

Grissom kept looking at her, waiting for her to make a choice. When he was seconds from calling the ambulance without regard to her wishes, she finally made a choice.

"Your car." Her teeth were gritted as the pain made her more nauseous. "Please!"

With a sharp nod, Grissom supported her under her shoulders and dragged her over to his car, yelling to O'Reilly that he would need to call for someone else.

The ride to the hospital was penetrated only by Sara's occasional groans of pain, which had Grissom increasingly worried. This was not good. If someone as stoic as Sara gave away that she was in pain, it must have been bad.

He was quick to get her out of the car and into the hospital when they finally arrived, and her lack of responsiveness made him sweat. This was not good.

He argued with the nurse at the reception desk, telling her that this really was an emergency, but she just gestured around telling him that this was why this was the 'emergency room.' Despite his continued arguing, he had no choice but to sit down with her and wait.

Every couple of minutes he gave the nurse a death stare as Sara's face screwed up with pain. He hated to see her like that. But what he hated even more was that there was nothing he could do to help her. He was feeling helpless.

He could not help Sara with her pain.

Time seemed to slow down as Sara's state deteriorated; however, no one came to help. They were in a hospital and she wasn't getting medical help.

When Grissom delivered the death stare for what was probably the hundredth time, he felt Sara slipping. He looked over to her just in time to catch her. She had passed out and almost fallen out of her chair.

In his panic, he screamed for help, holding her upright and trying to shake her awake. "Sara!"

Suddenly, he was jerked back away from her as someone finally seemed to realize that this was an urgent emergency. Several people were now tending to her, shouting orders to others and it wasn't long before she was whisked away.

Grissom was left behind, staring at the door she had vanished behind, feeling totally lost.

xxxxx

While Grissom was pacing the hospital halls, things at the lab were not going smoothly either. The others had heard what had happened at the crime scene from O'Reilly, but other than that they didn't have any information. They had tried calling Grissom, but apparently he had his cell phone off, and they didn't even know where he had taken her. All they could do was wait and do their work.

As a result of the chaos that had erupted since they were two people short right now and the fact that Ecklie was breathing down her neck, Catherine's mood was not exactly the best. Ecklie kept following her because he wanted an update on the case, Grissom and Sara's whereabouts, and the status of his special 'project.' It was the question regarding the last issue that was driving Catherine up the wall.

Apparently someone had thought it would be incredibly funny to play jokes on the lab director.

At first there had been bright cherry red high heels on his desk, then it was a tissue with a lipstick smear in the same color, and the last time it had been a positive pregnancy test.

Grissom had chosen to leave the lab to escape Ecklie and now Catherine was stuck with him. Grissom would pay for this.

As she saw Ecklie rounding the corner again, she darted into one of the labs, hoping to hide from him. She felt just a tiny bit sorry for him and was curious as to who was behind it all. She didn't think it was someone from nightshift. They were glad to be left alone by Ecklie, so why would anyone provoke him? Technically, that didn't make it their problem anymore, but Ecklie's presence was.

She would really have to try and figure out who had done it. And she knew just the man to help.

xxxxx

He had been pacing the floor before the operating rooms ever since he had been given an update. That was an hour ago. What was taking them so long?

After another twenty minutes of pacing, the doors finally opened and a doctor emerged, looking a bit grim but relieved.

"Are you the one who brought Miss Sidle in?"

Grissom could only nod, knots forming in his stomach. All he wanted to hear was that Sara would be fine.

"Well, it was just in time."

Grissom bit his tongue, not wanting to yell at the other man. His pulse was rising again, not from fear but anger. If they wouldn't have had to wait so long…

He wanted to pace, to get his pulse back under control, but he knew the doctor was not finished.

"The appendix hadn't ruptured yet. She was lucky."

'Yeah, very lucky,' he thought sarcastically, but again, years of training helped him to keep his emotions under control.

"She's being brought down to recovery and should be up again within days."

With that, he left Grissom standing there, feeling a bit helpless again.

He hated hospitals and this day would do nothing to help him get over his aversion. Sara could have died and they saw nothing wrong with their behavior.

Now he was standing outside of the surgery area, and he had no idea where they would be taking her. He looked around and found another nurse who told him where he could wait until she was awake.

More waiting.

Grissom wasn't sure how much longer he could take it. He needed to see her.

In the waiting room, the pacing began anew. He just hoped that it wouldn't be too long before he would be able to see her open her eyes again.

xxxxx

Catherine was still haunting the corridors, trying to hide from Ecklie. Together with Greg, she had been able to find out who was leaving these 'gifts' on the director's desk. However, she was not planning on telling him that. It turned out that these things had been no joke at all. In fact, they had been very personal hints, left by an employee of swing shift, and the pregnancy was not a fake, but deadly serious. Ecklie had managed to screw up.

If it were for her, she would gladly hand this over to someone who cared, but it was probably better to lay low and let Grissom handle it.

Grissom, where was he?

As if on cue, her phone rang. The display flashed 'Grissom,' and after a short curse, she picked up.

"You better have a very good explanation, mister," she barked into the phone, letting him know just how much she disapproved of his actions.

"Does waiting at the hospital for the results of a surgery of a team member count?"

The sarcasm was so thick that it took Catherine's breath away. As the words wrapped themselves around her brain, she gasped.

"Sara's had surgery?"

At her words, everyone within earshot stood still. The news that one of their own was in a hospital shocked them.

Catherine noticed and turned away to seek the seclusion of Grissom's office. Only there would she be able to talk to him quietly.

"Grissom, I had no idea." She let herself sink into his chair, her voice low.

"You should know better."

Of course she should. She had known Grissom long enough to know that he would not leave work without reasonable cause.

She said nothing, letting him guess that she did indeed know better and felt sorry for what had happened.

"Sara just came out of surgery. Appendicitis. I'm going to stay here until she is awake. You have shift."

With that he hung up, leaving Catherine to worry just how angry he was at her. She shook her head, repeating her mantra a couple of times.

A look at the clock told her that the others were probably taking a break. They should know what happened as well, so she made her way to the break room.

She found Greg and Warrick there, Nick nowhere in sight. "Where's Nick?"

"Talking to O'Reilly. He's trying to figure out what happened to Grissom and Sara," Warrick commented, looking up from his sandwich.

"No need. Call him and tell him what I tell you."

Now Greg looked up too, wondering what was going on. He had been worried about Sara. So much, in fact, that he had tried calling not only her cell, but also Grissom's.

"Sara had appendicitis and Grissom took her to the hospital. She's had surgery and is now on her way to recovery."

It came out as if she was merely stating a fact, but she was as worried as the others. She just didn't want anyone to worry enough that they wouldn't get any work done. They still had this shift to complete; that was her responsibility.

"Appendicitis?" Greg stuttered, having trouble wrapping his head around the fact that Sara was in the hospital.

At Catherine's nod, he lowered his head, trying to sort his thoughts. The first thing that came to his mind was 'help.' He jumped up out of his seat and went over to one of the cabinets.

Catherine and Warrick watched with curiosity as Greg searched one of the boards. He pulled something out with a cry of triumph and turned around so that the others could see what it was. It was a thermos that he was holding in his hand like it was the holy grail.

"Uh, Greg? What are you going to do with that?" Warrick asked, looking at the younger man as if he had lost his mind.

"I'm going to make her my special brew, of course." He turned to the coffee maker, not seeing the confirming look between the two others, stating that he had indeed lost his mind.

xxxxx

Her eyelids fluttered as she found consciousness again.

The first time she had been alone, but now there was someone sitting beside her bed, holding her hand. When her eyes cleared, she could see that it was Grissom.

He was awfully pale and looked tired. When she looked closer it became clear that it was more than being tired. He looked…worn out.

He could barely keep his own eyes open, but when he noticed that she was awake, he sat up straighter, squeezing her hand lightly. "You okay?"

Her throat felt dry and sore, her head was spinning and aching, her whole body was sore, but she nodded.

That brought a small smile onto his face, although she could tell he didn't believe her.

"It was just my appendix. It takes more than that. I'm too stubborn." She squeezed his hand to let him know she was still strong. This wouldn't kill her.

"Yeah, but it took incompetent personal to almost kill you." His voice was low and threatening, and for a second, Sara didn't know what to do.

It was never a good thing when Grissom got angry. Sadly, that was the only time he let his emotions control him. She wished his emotions could speak from his heart and overrule his head.

"Grissom, I'm okay."

"No, you could have died in the waiting room. When you get out of here, I'm going to call a lawyer."

Grissom hated lawyers. Sara wondered how angry he really was to resort to something like that. She looked into his eyes and saw that it was not only anger that was driving him. A large part of it was fear. Was it fear for her life, fear of what could have happened?

"I never knew you had that side to you."

Her simple statement grabbed his attention again, steering him away from his dark thoughts.

"You bring out the best in me."

He stood up, not knowing how much longer he could stand being so close to her. "I have to get back to the lab, straighten things out, tell the others what happened."

He let go of her hand, but leaned over to push her hair out of her face and kiss her forehead.

"Get better."

Sara could only watch as he left the hospital, wondering where this was leading them. Would it change things?

She would have to wait and see, but one thing was for sure, she could not ignore this wake up call.

The end


End file.
